Tortellini Made Tennis Player Fail Drug Test, Sara Errani Says

There was something so special about mom’s tortellini that it apparently made Italian tennis player Sara Errani fail a drug test, the Telegraph reported Monday. She was banned from the sport for two months, with the International Tennis Federation accepting Errani’s surprising excuse for doping and considered her “unblemished record.” The maximum ban is two years, the Guardian added.

A February urine sample showed the athlete had the chemical letrozole in her system. While it’s widely used to treat breast cancer, the drug can also enhance muscle for female body builders.

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Letrozole works by decreasing how much estrogen the body makes, which could ultimately slow or stop the breast cancer from returning. “This medication is used to treat certain types of breast cancer (such as hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer) in women after menopause. Letrozole is also used to help prevent the cancer from returning,” WebMD.com writes. “Some breast cancers are made to grow faster by a natural hormone called estrogen. Letrozole decreases the amount of estrogen the body makes and helps to slow or reverse the growth of these breast cancers.”

Errani’s excuse was that her mother has suffered through multiple bouts of cancer, and kept the pill in the kitchen. Sometimes, she would take two pill out, but only take one. Errani’s theory was that one of her mother’s pills must have fallen into the pot of tortellini she prepared in February, which means the contamination was unintentional.

Errani was given a relatively lenient sentence. The ITF tribunal ruled it was more likely than not that letrozole entered the player’s body by means of her mother’s medication.” The ban started Aug. 3 and will remain in effect until Oct. 3.

Errani passed her June 7 doping test, but will not be paid for anything she earned since February. While the tribunal decided on a punishment, she was allowed to play. That meant Errani competed for four months and played in the French Open.

Still, Errani was not pleased with ITF’s decision. She took to Twitter Monday to express herself.

“I feel very frustrated but I can only try to stand still and wait for this period to finish,” she tweeted. “I am extremely disappointed but at the same time at peace with my conscience and aware I haven’t done anything wrong, neither have I committed any negligence against the anti-doping program.”

Errani is ranked 98 in the world.

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While Errani is upset with the decision from the tribunal, Greek tennis player Konstantinos Mikos was banned from the sport for life. He was found guilty of attempted match fixing in May, ESPN wrote.

“The approach offered payment in return for agreeing to lose nominated sets and games in a match at the event,” read a statement from the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) investigation. “In addition, Mr. Mikos was found to have operated two gambling accounts through which bets were placed on tennis between March 2012 and December 2013.”

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